Where does “defeatism” come from?
Defeatism comes from French défaitisme, meaning acceptance of defeat or belief in inevitable failure.
defeatism (English): Acceptance of defeat without struggle
Definitions
- Acceptance of defeat without struggle
Ancestry of “defeatism”, step by step
defeatism traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English defeat
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | defeat | To overcome in battle or contest; To reduce, to... |
| 2 | Middle English | defeten | — |
| 3 | Middle English | defet | defect; disfigured |
| 4 | French | deffet | — |
| 5 | Old French | desfait | undone |
| 6 | Old French | desfaire | to undo; to defeat |
| 7 | Old French | faire | to do |
| 8 | Latin | faciō | to do |
| 9 | Latin | -torium | nominative neuter singular of -tōrius; accusative... |
| 10 | Latin | -tōrius | ory |
| 11 | Latin | -tor | -er |
| 12 | Proto-Italic | -tōr | Forms agent nouns to verb stems |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | -tōr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | -tor-s | — |
via English ism
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | ism | An ideology, system of thought, or practice that... |
| 2 | English | -ism | Used to form nouns of action or process or result... |
| 3 | Latin | -ismus | -ism |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | -ισμός | Forms abstract nouns |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | -μός | Forms abstract nouns |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -mós | Creates action/result nouns from verb stems |